S3 Chrome 430 GT gets reviewed early

S3 Graphics' Chrome 430 GT graphics card is a hard product to actually buy at the moment but that hasn't stopped a couple of Chinese websites finding them from the underground and putting the new $60 DX10.1 card through its paces.

One website tested it against AMD's HD 3450 (which costs roughly the same), previous generation HD 2400 PRO and GeForce 8400GS in a range of games and resolutions. The 430 GT manages to beat them all hands down under 3DMark06 with a fair lead but, under Far Cry, the HD 3450 manages to take back the lead slightly. This may suggest that the driver of the 430 GT is not quite up to scratch and possible future releases could make the card perform better. However, under Serious Sam 2, Company of Heroes, Call of Juarez and World in Conflict it manages to win each time.

It doesn't win by much and the frame rates are less than impressive and what we wouldn't call playable in the latest gaming titles, but it does show S3 Graphics is still in the game. You can check out the translated articles by Google from Chinese to English here and here for more details.